Who was the first navigator to sail around the world?

The first historically proven global circumnavigation honor goes to Master Juan Sebastian Elcano, Commander of the Victoria, the smallest of Ferdinand Magellan's original fleet of five ships.During the journey, Magellan was killed in a fight with native islanders.On September 6, 1522, The Victoria, under the command of Elcano, was the only ship that made it back to Spain, where the mission originated in November 1520.Elcano was awarded a coat of arms by Charles I of Spain, featuring a globe with the motto: Primus circumdedisti me (in Latin, "You went around me first"), and an annual pension.Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian scholar, was a crew member of the Magellan and Elcano expedition who wrote several documents about the events of the expedition. According to Pigafetta the voyage covered 14,460 leagues—about 81,449 kilometers, almost 51,000 miles.He obviously took the long way around the barn, so to speak. The earth is only about 25,000 miles in circumference.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

Test your knowledge

What are your thoughts on this subject?

74 Comments

David Tresch

Posed this question to a history professor who said a better wording of the question would be: "Who was the first person to successfully circumnavigate the globe?" He said this because Elcano was not considered a "navigator" by definition, yet at the time of the sailing.

Unique1

fornaro, Magellan did not survive the entire voyage but Elcano, who sailed with him, COMPLETED the voyage.

fornaro

Why were we given a different account in grade school? Is it Magellan or Elcano?

Bewley Steve

This isn't true as the first part of the voyage was commanded by Magellan. However, Elcano wasn't the only navigator that sailed with Magellan. However you cut this, it's BS.

Mildred Hernandez Cain

Why they don't just change the questionnaire into " Who circumnavigate to sail around the world and complete the voyage ? " That confuses me , after all this time I thought it was Magellan ...

krazeemikee

With the way this bullshit question is worded, Magellan was the first NAVIGATOR to circumnavigate the world.

James

I thought it was Magellan as I've never heard of that other person. Oh well, my favorite book & movie is "The Dove" where Robin Lee Graham cirrcumnavigates the globe in an 18' sailboat & then finishing the voyage in a 24' sailboat. Excellent story. . . he was definitely my hero!

Emm Yo

fornaro, Elcano. Magellan died in phillipines.

Lynn Murphy

Now this was a very good question, with not one but three likely candidates. I don't know Alvares' claim to fame - maybe the fourth option should have been Pigafetta. But this is nit-picking. Thank you, authors!

Ted Maroulis

never heard of Elcano.

Shannon

Got it wrong! Went with Magellan..

Chris Braid

Went for Magellan!

Eric Leif Peters

Wrong. "If Magellan wasn’t the first person to circle the globe, then who was? The most obvious candidate is Juan Sebastian Elcano, a Basque mariner who took control of the expedition after Magellan’s death in 1521 and captained its lone surviving vessel, the “Victoria,” on its journey back to Spain. Elcano and his sailors stand as the first people to have successfully voyaged around the world as part of a single journey, but they might not be the first humans to have circumnavigated the globe over the course of a lifetime. Opinions differ, but many historians give the honor to Magellan’s Malay slave, Enrique. Magellan had seized Enrique from Malacca during an earlier 1511 voyage to the East Indies, and the Malay later served as the round-the-world expedition’s interpreter in the Pacific islands. Enrique had previously traveled west with Magellan from Asia to Europe before joining in the voyage across the Atlantic and Pacific, so by the time the mission reached Southeast Asia, he had very nearly circled the globe and returned to his homeland—albeit over the course of several years and multiple voyages. Enrique abandoned the expedition and disappeared shortly after Magellan’s death in the Philippines. By then, he was only a few hundred miles short of his point of origin in Malacca. If he ever returned to his homeland, then Enrique may deserve the true credit for being the first person to circumnavigate globe." https://www.history.com/news/was-magellan-the-first-person-to-circumnavigate-the-globe

Dallas Nash

Magellan is generally credited so that has to be the answer

Anna Kovacs

Very interesting we all heard about Magellan but not th man who actually completed the voyage.

ninakamwene

I said Magellan

Vonda Summers

Missed that one

Dani Smith

Bibi Lobo Somyak, the question asked for the navigator. The guy who completed it wasn't officially a navigator. Chill. The question wasn't worded correctly.